Markets Recover in Late Trades to Close Above the Psychological Mark of 16K

Markets ended with losses after recovering from the day's low in afternoon trades. A recovery in European markets and buying in IT stocks helped the Sensex to recover around 250 points from the day's low of 15,801. The index finally ended with a loss of 111 points to 16,051. Nifty ended down 32 points at 4,835. Global markets were in the red as doubts resurfaced whether Europe's politicians can deliver a rescue programme big and bold enough to stop its sovereign debt crisis from morphing into a major financial disaster. Asian markets ended in red with Nikkei shedding 2 per cent to end at a 30-month closing low of 8,374. Seoul Composite and Taiwan Weighted also slipped 2.5 per cent each. European markets, however, traded in green. The CAC and DAX jumped 2 per cent each to 2,048 and 2.896, respectively. FTSE is up 0.6 per cent at 5,097. In India among other news, market regulator, SEBI notified the new takeover code which makes it mandatory for entities buying more than 25 per cent stake in a listed firm to buy an additional 26 per cent from the public.  Reliance was the biggest dragger among Sensex stocks and along with HDFC Bank and Larsen & Toubro, contributed for a 60 points fall in the Sensex. Metal stocks dropped, mirroring a 3.2 per cent drop in the London Metal Exchange on Friday. The BSE metal index dropped 3.2 per cent to 11,141. IT stocks erased losses and ended up 0.5 per cent at 5,011. Meanwhile, the rupee continued to weaken against the dollar. The market may remain volatile this week as traders roll over positions in the futures & options segment on Thursday. BSE market breadth was negative. Out of 2,861 stocks traded, 1,963 declined while 788 advanced.